20 



The Florists^ Review 



February 15, 1917. 



rington, were optimistic. Mr. Young 

 said almost all the exhibition space has 

 been engaged, also in the program, with 

 an advance sale of trade tickets amount- 

 ing to over $2,000. 



J. H. Uick have an account of the In- 

 dianapolis carnation convention and Da- 

 vid Ward also spoke interestingly of it. 

 Mr. De Forest, chairman of the banquet 

 committee, reported progress. There 

 should be an attendance of at least 400. 

 March 17 is the date. 



W. H. Siebrecht, Jr., referred to the 

 threatened quarantine legislation and 

 said there is no reason for uneasiness, 

 as the American Forestry Association is 

 redrafting its bill and will do nothing 

 further until conference is had with the 

 New York Florists ' Club and the nur- 

 serymen 's association. 



The following were elected to mem- 

 ership: Peter Henderson, of Jersey 

 City; J. E. Weir, Jr., Jamesport, L. I.; 

 Walter Hunter, Englewood, N. J.; Curt 

 Thimm, Roslyn, N. Y.; D. B. Thom, 

 Brooklyn; James Stuart, Mamaroneck, 

 N. Y.; Geno Masson, A. Warendorff, 

 Charles Voit, Thomas Tobin, W. T. Hom- 

 burg, Karl Landolt, Ernest Stumpp, 

 Henry Hoffman, Hamilton Henry, W. C. 

 Fogarty, Charles B. Hanft, L. B. 

 Wertheimer and Otto Korb, New York. 

 Several made pledges of loyalty. The 

 following were proposed: Charles Gille, 

 C. M. Thel, S. Kakuda, J. J. Fellouris, C. 

 Sackalos, J. M. Miller, F. R. Martin, Wil- 

 lard Kervan, L. C. L. Smitl:, Wm. Kaler, 

 E. K. Bowne, John T. Gilbas and A. 

 Macmillan. The large accession to the 

 membership is largely due to the activ- 



ity of President Stumpp, and, on motion 

 of A. J. Guttman, a rising vote of thanks 

 was given him for his good work. 



Secretary Young's report showed a 

 balance January 1 of $14,925. 



Resolutions on the deaths of Samuel 

 Batchelor and S. J. Reuter were ordered 

 and committees appointed. 



A special invitation from Philadelphia 

 to attend the exhibition of the American 

 Rose Society was read and accepted. 



A Mr. Roth gave an interesting 

 address on "The High Cost of Forget- 

 ting," and illustrated it by remarkable 

 feats of memory. The club gave him 

 an enthusiastic vote of thanks. 



Exhibits and Awards. 



The judges reported the following 

 awards to exhibitors: 



S. J. Goddard, South Framingham, Mass., vase 

 of Carnation Laddie, 88 points; Carnation Doris, 

 85 points; Carnation Rosaiia, 85 points. 



Ira .7. Marvin, Willies-Barre, Pa., Carnation 

 Cornell, vote of thanks. 



Cottage Gardens Co., Queens, N. Y., Carna- 

 tion Cottage Maid, 88 points. 



J. F. Marsden, Far Rockaway, L. I., Carnation 

 Mrs. Marsden, request for a second showing. 



Floral Hill Gardens, Chatham, N. J., Carna- 

 tion Liic.v, 85 points; Seedling No. 46, vote of 

 thanks. 



M. Matheron, Baldwins', L. I., Carnation Olive 

 Whitman, 85 points. 



F. B. Abrains, Blue Point, L. I., Carnation 

 Enchantress Sport, vote of thanks. 



R. Simpson, Clifton, N. J., Rose Sport of J. J. 

 L. Mock, vote of thanks. 



Florex Gardens, North AVales, I'a., Rose Sep- 

 tember Morn, vote of thanks. 



It was announced that the March 

 meeting will be Rose Night. 



Chairman Phil Kessler and his lieuten- 

 ants provided an elaborate collation. 



J. A. S. 



ODCN LCTTEl^g)^"" EJEADED6 



FUNGUS IN BENCHES. 



Regarding the inquiry of Wachendorf 

 Bros., of Atlanta, Ga., in The Review 

 of February 8, as to the cause of a 

 fungus which destroys their plants in 

 greenhouse benches, gas leakage in the 

 soil will cause the condition of which 

 they speak. The soil becomes hard and 

 has the appearance of being frozen and 

 full of white frost or mold, and of 

 course it results in the loss of the plants. 

 These parties may find their trouble to 

 be due to this cause, or again it may 

 be due to some other. 



Washington Floral Co. 



THE FREEZE IN FLORIDA. 



After my years of experience with the 

 winters of Toledo, O., where I was in 

 the greenhouse business, the worst of 

 weather here at De Land, Fla., seems 

 soft and salubrious, but by the time 

 you get this letter you will undoubtedly 

 have many reports about the big freeze 

 in this state last week. Here, in and 

 about De Land, oranges and other cit- 

 rus fruits are the main crop and pros- 

 pects look somewhat blue for the grow- 

 ers. The reports vary a great deal, but 

 the damage certainly was heavy. 



About half of this season's crop has 

 been harvested and shipped; of the other 

 half, which is still on the trees, the 

 greater part will be a dead loss. I cut 

 some fruit open after the first night's 



frost and found ice in it. Yet some 

 growers tell me they brought grape- 

 fruit from their groves and found it to 

 be unharmed. Growers who had coke 

 or oil pots close enough saved some of 

 their fruit. 



Trees in this district were mostly well 

 ripened and were still dormant, and 

 these will, I believe, come out without 

 any serious damage. But farther south, 

 where the average temperature is not 

 as cool as it is here, the trees must have 

 suffered severely. I hear that at Or- 

 lando, about forty miles south of here, 

 many trees are split open. Any green- 

 house man can imagine what that 

 means. The temperature here was re- 

 ported as low as 14 degrees above zero. 

 The lettuce and celery crops around San- 

 ford, twenty miles south of here, have 

 suffered badly. 



The tourists, who are the main 

 "crop" here, seem to take matters quite 

 philosophically. Even if it freezes oc- 

 casionally during a spell like this, the 

 sun comes out every day and makes 

 everybody feel that Florida is a good 

 place to be in, anyway. 



To a florist it is interesting to see 

 what effect the freeze had on the various 

 plants and trees grown here. On honey- 

 suckles, which were in full bloom, all 

 blossoms were killed. Among potted 

 aspidistras, standing side by side, one 

 would be frozen to the pot and the next 

 one unhurt. Sansevierias acted the same 



way. Bougainvillea glabra, where cov- 

 ered a little, even had some blossoms 

 left. Cycas revoluta and different sorts 

 of phoenix, as well as the local cabbage 

 palm, seem to be all sound. The foliage 

 on the magnolias and oaks is as green 

 as ever. Oleanders, which were not yet 

 in blossom, are not affected, but poinset- 

 tias and hibiscus are pretty well cut 

 down. Cannas and nasturtiums that 

 had been well covered came out fairly 

 well. The immense tubs of Boston ferns 

 that one could see here everywhere are 

 dead down to the soil, but will come out 

 all right. 



The most frozen thing down here is 

 the local colored man, but even he, I 

 noticed this morning, is humming and 

 crooning again, vt'hile swinging pick or 

 shovel on the paving jobs. 



Wm. B. Currey, the local florist, lost 

 a few geraniums and Paris daisies, but 

 adiantums, pteris, kentias and arecas on 

 the same bench came out unhurt. His 

 Asparagus plumosus, of which he ships 

 heavily to the north, suffered a little, 

 but only the softest, youngest growth 

 was nipped, while matured sprays were 

 untouched. This plumosus is grown un- 

 der lath roofs, surrounded by board 

 walls that are not at all tight. Mr. 

 Currey did not try to heat his asparagus 

 plantation, but it came through the cold 

 wave nicely. He will be able to ship 

 regularly. E. A. Kuhnke. 



TILE IN GREENHOUSE BENCHES. 



In The Review of February 1 I no- 

 ticed an inquiry about tile benches, by 

 W. E. W. As we have had considerable 

 experience in different kinds of benches, 

 I thought I would offer some suggestions 

 that might be of value to the inquirer. 

 Eleven years ago we tore down an old 

 greenhouse and rebuilt it from the 

 benches up. We found that the bench 

 legs were the first part to decay, so in 

 rebuilding we bought common 4-inch 

 drain tile cut twenty-four inches long. 

 We set the tile two feet apart in the row, 

 with three rows for a 5-foot bench. The 

 tile cost us 3 cents each, which is less 

 than the cheapest 2x4 leg you could buy, 

 to say nothing about the braces required 

 to hold the wooden legs up and a block 

 or something for them to stand on. We 

 put a shovelful of concrete down before 

 setting the tile and when this becomes 

 hard it makes a big foot which will not 

 settle or tip over. We used some of our 

 old 2x4 lumber for crosspieces and for 

 bottoms a lot of best grade cypress that 

 had only been in one year. That same 

 grade of cypress would cost about $50 

 per thousand feet now. Last summer we 

 bought a carload of flat bench tile and 

 stringers, as we had the tile legs, which 

 were as good as new. We ran our string- 

 ers crosswise and had the tile cut in 24- 

 inch lengths for the bottoms. We used 

 the tile nine inches wide and six of them 

 made about fifty-six inches in width. 

 On each side we ran a piece of 2x4 lum- 

 ber and on that we put a 6-inch side- 

 board of best cypress, which we treated 

 to two coats of wood preserver. These 

 sides were tied together with wire cables 

 under the bench. This makes us a bench 

 about five feet four inches wide. If we 

 were to build new from the legs up we 

 would run the stringers lengthwise and 

 use 28-inch or 30-inch slabs. If I could 

 not get the drain tile I would buy the 

 legs made of the same material as the 

 stringers and bottoms. I would not un- 

 der any consideration use wooden legs, 

 as the tile is cheaper, quicker set and 

 more durable. E. B. Morgan. 



